The restoration of sediment-related disasters and driftwood from national forest in Taiwan caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009

The number and area of new landslide, according to the interpreted SPOT images, caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009 is estimated as 30,223 and 43,996 ha, respectively. The new landslide area in 2009 increased by about 16,392 ha in comparison with the landslide area in 2008. The heavy rainfall with a return period well over 200 years during Typhoon Morakot centralized in southwestern and southeastern Taiwan, and that also resulted in serious landslide disasters in national forest. Four forest working circles, including Chishan, Laonong, Pintung, and Dawu, are the most serious landslide zones with the landslide ratio over 8.0%. The Forestry Bureau assesses and ranks the seriousness of the disasters by using slope, the number of protected objects, the distance from the disaster to the protected objects to execute the restoration of sediment disasters and landslide in national forest. Due to the most torrential rain in the past 50 years caused by Typhoon Morakot, a large number of trees in the mountain area were destroyed. They became the driftwood, with a total weight of about 1.52 million tons, which ended up at the farmlands and ports. In order to recover agricultural products and livelihoods, Forestry Bureau made strategy for disaster prevention and reduction. Based on the strategy, Forestry Bureau sweeps away the driftwood by estimating its distribution, overcomes the issues caused by the heavy rainfall disaster, and helps the victims to recover their life

Atomistic nucleation sites of Pt nanoparticles on N-doped carbon nanotubes

[[abstract]]The atomistic nucleation sites of Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs) on N-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) were investigated using C and N K-edge and Pt L3-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES)/extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy and XANES/EXAFS results revealed that the self-organized Pt NPs on N-CNTs are uniformly distributed because of the relatively high binding energies of the adsorbed Pt atoms at the imperfect sites. During the atomistic nucleation process of Pt NPs on N-CNTs, stable Pt–C and Pt–N bonds are presumably formed, and charge transfer occurs at the surface/interface of the N-CNTs. The findings in this study were consistent with density functional theory calculations performed using cluster models for the undoped, substitutional-N-doped and pyridine-like-N-doped CNTs.[[journaltype]]國外[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙本[[countrycodes]]GB

Regulation of Sufu activity by p66β and Mycbp provides new insight into vertebrate Hedgehog signaling

Control of Gli function by Suppressor of Fused (Sufu), a major negative regulator, is a key step in mammalian Hedgehog (Hh) signaling, but how this is achieved in the nucleus is unknown. We found that Hh signaling results in reduced Sufu protein levels and Sufu dissociation from Gli proteins in the nucleus, highlighting critical functions of Sufu in the nucleus. Through a proteomic approach, we identified several Sufu-interacting proteins, including p66β (a member of the NuRD [nucleosome remodeling and histone deacetylase] repressor complex) and Mycbp (a Myc-binding protein). p66β negatively and Mycbp positively regulate Hh signaling in cell-based assays and zebrafish. They function downstream from the membrane receptors, Patched and Smoothened, and the primary cilium. Sufu, p66β, Mycbp, and Gli are also detected on the promoters of Hh targets in a dynamic manner. Our results support a new model of Hh signaling in the nucleus. Sufu recruits p66β to block Gli-mediated Hh target gene expression. Meanwhile, Mycbp forms a complex with Gli and Sufu without Hh stimulation but remains inactive. Hh pathway activation leads to dissociation of Sufu/p66β from Gli, enabling Mycbp to promote Gli protein activity and Hh target gene expression. These studies provide novel insight into how Sufu controls Hh signaling in the nucleus